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Religious Pluralism, Fundamentalism and Contested Identities in North American Orthodox Religious Life: the Case of the Greek Orthodox Church in North America

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Religious Pluralism, Fundamentalism and Contested Identities in North American Orthodox Religious Life: the Case of the Greek Orthodox Church in North America RELIGIOUS PLURALISM, FUNDAMENTALISM AND CONTESTED IDENTITIES IN NORTH AMERICAN ORTHODOX RELIGIOUS LIFE: THE CASE OF THE GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH IN NORTH AMERICA Professor Frances Kostarelos Coll(}ge of Arts and Sciences Humanities and Social Sciences Division Governors State University University Park, Illinois ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY LAY ADVOCACY • TRANSPARENCY ACCOUNTABILITY • UNITY OCCASIONAL PAPER SERIES 8 - 2018 MEMORY ETERNAL OCL BOARD MEMBERS DEDICATION ANTHONY ANDRIKOPOULOS GEORGE ARAV OSIS SPIRO BOUDOURAS EVANGELOS CHRISS GEORGE COUPOUNAS DR EVANGELOS CRETICOS BASIL F OUSSIANES FR PETER GILLQUIST MATUSHKA ELLEN GvoSDEV LAURA JONES PETER HAIKALIS FR. THOMAS HOPKO ESTELLE KANAKIS GEORGE KAPPOS DR. ANDREW KOPAN JIM KOULOGEORGE VAN (EVANGELOS) LIVADAS NICHOLAS NICHOLAOU JOHN PAPPAS MICHAEL PALMER PHILIP SIAVALLIS FR EUSEBIUS STEPHANOU MINERVA (ATHENA) STERGIANOPOULOS EVA TOPPING SOTERE TSOUTSOURA FR. GORDON WALKER DEACON JOHN ZARRAS INTRODUCTION: PRESIDENT GEORGE KARCAZES In celebration of the 30th anniversary (1987-2017) of the establishment of the Orthodox Christian Laity (OCL), the Board of Directors continues its educational ministry by publishing this, the eighth in its series of occasional papers. Dr. Frances Kostarelos presented this paper at OCL's 30th Annual Conference in Chicago, October 201 7. With respect to the issue of the Monasteries established by "Elder Ephraim" in the United States referenced in Dr. Kostarelos' paper, all of which operate under the omophorion of the Metropolitans of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, the Board of Directors of OCL adopted the Resolutions set forth herein at its Board meeting February 10-12, 2017. An overview of the publications and materials developed by Orthodox Christian Laity is also included for your information. OCL is an independent, national, pari-Orthodox, 501 ( c) 3 non-profit, educational association, incorporated in the State of Illinois on March 17, 1988, for the purpose of advancing the renewal of the Orthodox Christian Church in the United States by: 1) advocating that the laity remain part of the conciliar governance process which provides balance to the hierarchy and clergy all working tog�ther in governance, spiritual and other matters to insure accountability and transparency in the affairs of the Church; 2) commiting to the establishment of an administratively and canonically unified, self-governing Orthodox Church in the United States. Thank you for your support! Follow OCL on social media and at www.ocl.org. You can donate online. Your financial support enables OCL to continue its educational ministry. Sincerely, George D. Karcazes, President 3 RELIGIOUS PLURALISM, FUNDAMENTALISM AND CONTESTED IDENTITIES IN NORTH AMERICAN ORTHODOX RELIGIOUS LIFE: THE CASE OF THE GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH IN NORTH AMERICA Professor Frances Kostarelos College of Arts and Sciences Humanities and Social Sciences Division Governors State University University Park, Illinois Dr. Kostarelos has written on issues related to religion and has served as a program evaluator for the Lilly Endowment Grant awarded to Hellenic College for several years. OCCASIONAL PAPER 8 Edited by Father David Oancea and Lauren O'Kelley 4 I would first like to thank Orthodox Christian Laity (OCL) for organizing this event and for inviting me to present this discussion of religious pluralism, fundamentalism, and contested identities in the Greek Orthodox Church in America. My hope is that this presentation will contribute to critical thinking and constructive conversation concerningthe present and futureof Orthodoxy we so deeply care about. I also want to thank the clergy and laity who have taken a part in the study. A great deal has been learned fromindividuals and groups during interviews about the meaningful place of beliefs and practices lived in Orthodox parishes. Insights have been gained concerningthe place of parish lifeand the Orthodox faith in shaping personal and collective identities in a religious heritage cherished by many interviewed for this study. I am solely responsible for findings and interpretation in this account. This presentation draws from ethnographic research concerned with the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (GOA) as it adapts to a changing and plural cultural, social, and religious landscape in North America. The focus of the wider ethnography is on social and cultural forcestransforming the lived experiences of Greek Orthodox Christians and GOA institutions in 21st century America. The study points to complex forcesrooted in a changing American social, cultural and religious landscape articulating with and reshaping Orthodox Christian beliefs, traditions, and practices. Orthodoxy in America is in a dialectical relationship with a plural socio-cultural and religious landscape that is giving way to questions about personal and collective social and moral identities, religious practices, church leadership, governance, and authority. I will firstdiscuss religious pluralism as a social and cultural force shaping Orthodoxy on American soil. For a discussion of religious pluralism informing my research, I referyo u to Diane Eck, A New Religious America: How A "Christian Country"Has Become the World's Most Religiously Diverse Nation (San Francisco, CA: Harper, 2001); and to the Pluralism Project Eck directs at http://pluralism.org forupdated research projects and reports on the 1 religious pluralism in North America • 'See Diane Eck, A ew Religious America: How A "Christian Country" Has Become the World's Most Religiously Diverse ation (San Francisco, CA: Harper; 200 I. See the Pluralism http://pluralism.org for full discussion of project objectives and updated research reports on religious pluralism in North America. 5 Briefly, here are fourpoints from the pluralism project Diane Eck framedto guide our discussion. First, pluralism is not diversity alone, but the energetic engagement with diversity. Diversity can and has meant the creation of religious ghettoes with little traffic between or among them. Today, religious diversity is a given, but pluralism is not a given; it is an achievement. Mere diversity without real encounter and relationship will yield increasing tensions in our societies. Second, pluralism is not just tolerance, but the active seeking of understanding across lines of difference. Tolerance is a necessary public virtue, but it does not require Christians and Muslims, Hindus, Jews, and ardent secularists to know anything about one another. Tolerance is too thin a foundation for a world of religious difference and proximity. It does nothing to remove our ignorance of one another, and leaves in place the stereotype, the half-truth, the fears that underlie old patterns of division and violence. In the world in which we live today, our ignorance of one another will be increasingly costly. Third, pluralism is not relativism, but the encounter of commitments. The new paradigm of pluralism does not require us to leave our identities and our commitments behind, forpluralism is the encounter of commitments. It means holding our deepest differences, even our religious differences,not in isolation, but in relationship to one another. Fourth, pluralism is based on dialogue. The language of pluralism is that of dialogue and eqcounter, give and take, criticism and self-criticism. Dialogue means both speaking and listening, and that process reveals both common understandings and real differences. Dialogue does not mean everyone at the "table" will agree with one another. Pluralism involves the commitment to being at the table - with one's commitments. I I 6 Please consider visiting the Pluralism Project and engage lessons that may be gleaned from this work for the purpose of the thinking and acting in your parish. Second, I focuson emergent discourse within the GOA community on what interviewees in my study referto as a "growing fundamentalism" rooted in the teachings and practices of Elder Ephraim, the founder and leader of several monasteries throughout the United States. In this account, I apply the term fundamentalism as it represents the insider ethnographic voice. Fundamentalism is the term that people use and are using as they grapple with changes in their parishes introduced by clergy carriers of Elder Ephraim's beliefs and practices. In this account, I also apply the term fundamentalismas an analytic tool following Gabriel A. Almond, et al, Strong Religion: The Rise of Fundamentalisms around the World (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2003). Strong Religion is based on the 10-year Fundamentalism Project lead by Professor Martin Marty at the University of Chicago. Qualities I find in Elder Ephraim's institutions that follow the cultural schema of fundamentalismframed in Strong Religion include: Antagonism towards encroachments of secularization in religious life. Ambivalence towards modern science while simultaneously adopting science-based medicine and state of the art technologies to advance their institutions. There is no pluralism for fundamentalist groups as their group embodies the truth. Women are subordinate to men. Wives are subservient to their husbands. And in some instances, sisters aresubordinate to brothers. A women s role is to be a mother and homemaker. Marriedcouples are subservient to spiritual leaders. The religious rules of fundamentalist groups are complex, rigid, and demand obedience and self-sacrifice. Fundamentalists sequester children in environments where they are socialized by adherents of the religioussystem. Fundamentalists
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